10 June, 2014

An open letter to TS Francis Yeoh of YTL (reproduced from The Malay Mail):

Dear Editor, I read in awe the comments made by Tan Sri Francis Yeoh (FY) reported in
your Malay Mail Online Portal on Tuesday, 3rd June, 2014, and several
other newspaper including The Malaysian Reserve and The Edgedaily,
quoting him at Pemandu’s global Malaysia Series Forum at the Securities
Commission.

Francis Yeoh is
probably the last person qualified to comment on cronyism, racial and
religious rhetorics. For someone whose family is one of the biggest
beneficiary of crony capitalism, political corruption and high handed
business tactics. Francis Yeoh should just keep his fake views to
himself and continue planning his transfer of wealth overseas.

Lets recap how FY and YTL “won “ the first IPP in the country in 1994.

All you have to do is read the Memoirs of Tan Sri Ani Arope to know
first hand of how high handed Francis Yeoh bulldozed his way through
his IPP which has cost the Malaysian citizens billions of Ringgit. It’s
the same billions which Francis Yeoh has now transferred abroad
acquiring assets in UK, Australia and Singapore, all from the grossly
inflated electricity tariff YTL got in 1994 on the back of power crisis
in 1992.

Francis Yeoh called the IPP as “innovation”. I and most Malaysian citizens would call it daylight robbery.
The innovation was to produce electricity at 23 sen, sell it at 30 sen,
when TNB was producing it at 8 sen and selling it at 17 sen.
Innovation was land-grabbing the Paka and Pasir Gudang sites from TNB
and building his IPP. Innovation was arm- twisting Petronas to sell gas
at huge subsidy. Innovation was forcing through a “take or pay”
mechanism in the Off-take Agreement .

Innovation was bulldozing
through the IPP via EPU through whatever means to get the sweetheart
deal. Innovation was forcing Dato Sri Ani Arope, the TNB CEO then to
resign for refusing to accept YTL terms.

Francis Yeoh is probably
the only Chinese who dared walk through like a King into an UMNO
General Assembly those days to see the Prime Minister and nobody dared
questioned him or stopped him.

Let’s move on to the Express Rail
Link which is also another innovation by FY which he touted as a runaway
success without government help.

Oh, he forgot to mention and
most people didn’t know that RM 5 of every passenger airport tax paid by
travellers going through KLIA is paid to ERL even though less than 5%
of them uses the ERL to get to KLIA.

And not to forget that the
government paid RM 100m for the recent extension of ERL to KLIA2 and the
passengers now to pay an extra RM2 to get to KLIA2 to cover the cost of
the extra trip to KLIA2.

Perhaps we should give FY the
“Malaysian Innovator of the Century” for all the “innovation” he had
done that ripped off billions of Ringgit of taxpayers money including
mine.

Now lets move to the topic of racism.

Can FY come
clean on how many Malays and Indian YTL Group has employed? I would like
to see it broken down by category of senior management, management and
kulis. It’s the same FY who employed a token Malay as Executive Director
in his Group who doesn’t have to actually go to work, so he won’t learn
their trade secrets.

On corporate governance, YTL has the
infamous Kitchen Board comprising of family members only that meets and
decide on key things . The formal Boards of his listed companies only
meet to rubber stamp decisions and tick their attendances for publishing
in the annual report.

Francis Yeoh participated in a recent forum of Top 50 PLCs chaired by the Prime Minister at the Security Commission recently.

At the session, a study on graduate employment by 2 lecturers (Dr Lee
Hwok Aun and Dr Muhammad Abdul Khalid) in University Malaya was tabled,
which highlighted how Malay graduates are discriminated against in job
application.

It was Francis Yeoh his most eloquent, when he was
asked to give his views. He managed to say about 5 words and “innovated”
his way out by changing topics. Francis Yeoh’s latest innovation is now
team up with royalties for business.

This is after years of
currying favors from politicians until his true self showed up and no
politician wanted to have anything to do with him.

After he
bad-mouthed Tun Dr Mahathir to just about everybody who cared to listen,
the same Tun Dr Mahathir who made him a billionaire many times over.
After years of loathing the royalties, now they are his favorite people.

But things didn’t go according to plan. After losing out in the
Project 3B IPP tender, FY managed to “innovate” his way through
bypassing the open tender method to win Project 4A just days ago.

Another brilliant innovation by FY, is to metamorphorse YTL from a mere
Chinaman contractor turned power producer to also now be a brilliant
telecommunications company. How much did you pay for the 4G license
Francis Yeoh?

And also the highly inflated Bestranet project to
wire up all the schools in the country, so that you can plant your base
stations paid for by the people! Another brilliant innovation by YTL
should be your company tagline, no need to hire a bumiputera PR company
to come up with a tagline for you.

And what about KTM land in
Sentul FY? I suppose taking land from a bleeding KTM at rock bottom
price makes you a national savior?

After benefitting from all these
sweetheart deals, you later called for “brutal competition” as the only
way for the country to progress.

When you get all these deals. Its
innovation and entrepreneurship. When a bumiputera like Tan Sri Syed
Mokhtar gets them, its cronyism and unfair privileges for the
bumiputeras.

You criticized the affirmative action plan which is
national policy giving unfair advantage to the bumiputera, but I can
assure you that all the small contracts handed out to the small
contractors the last 21 years since you got your innovative IPP does
not even come close to the contracts and businesses YTL has got from the
government and the people.

I can go on and on, and I am sure
there are many more people who knows more than me who can add to it. Not
enough in attacking and insulting our intelligence, FY is also now
attacking bumiputeras, saying the non-bumis now have no chance in
business in Malaysia.

My message to Francis Yeoh is maybe it’s
time for you to sell out the remaining 15% of business which are still
in Malaysia and start packing your bags to move to UK. A lordship awaits
you in the land of the fair.

Iqra'/ Bacalah

Behind The front lines of every war in the world

Soft Power, The means to success in World Politics

SOFT POWER

Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. It arises from the attractiveness of a country’s culture, political ideals, and policies.

America has long had a great deal of soft power; young people behind The Iron Curtain listening to American music and news on Radio Free Europe; of Chinese students symbolizing their protests in Tiananment Square by creating a replica of the Statue of Liberty; of newly liberated Afghans in 2001 asking for a copy of Bill of Rights; of young Iranians today surreptitiously watching banned American videos and satellite television broadcasts in the privacy of their homes. These are all examples of America's soft power.

When you can get others to admire your ideals and to want what you want, you do not have to spend as much on sticks and carrots to move them in your direction. Seduction is always more effective than coercion, and many values like democracy, human rights, and individual opportunities are deeply seductive.

Much of American soft power has been produced by Hollywood, Harvard, Microsoft, Facebook and Michael Jordan

(Joseph S. Nye Jr, former Dean of The Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, was Chairman of National Intelligent Council and Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Clinton Administration)

NO SATU

Tokoh Kedah "Behind The Enigma"

Monte Zain

Monte Zain, Out Of Malaya

Monte Zain leaved his hometown of Alor Setar at the age of 20, he sailed as a seaman on a merchant ship on a voyage to the New World to pursue his unusual dream of becoming a Hollywood actor.

A young man of lesser character and determination would have been completely overwhelmed by cultural shock during his first week on American soil in June 1947 as he walked the streets of Harlem alone-surviving on bread and water from drinking fountains in New York Central Park - sleeping in subway trains and on park benches.

Deligence and thrift saw Monte Zain on the road towards an initial career as an actor. He studied and worked, sometime on three shifts in restaurant to support himself and his family back in Malaya, and not forgetting to set aside five dollars in a savings account from each paycheck to assist his friends in the "Saberkas" theater group to come to America for higher studies.

Life expose him to many types of people and interpersonal experiences. His likeness to Sabu of "The Elephant Boy" fame was a strong magnetic attraction in his many encounters with the opposite sex.

Circumtances beyond the control of mortal man intervened and short stopped his dream of a career on the Big Screen, but not before two of his Malayan friends came to join him in California for higher education opportunities. As for himself, Monte Zain joined the US Army, primarily, out of necessity and survival.

He finally became a citizen of the United States and settled permenantly in California with his Japanese-born soul mate.

Tenang-tenang Sg Merbok

Jangan disangka tiada buaya

Jetty Merbok

This picture was not part of what I had in mind as the idea was to capture the sunset at the jetty in Merbok Beradik**. After having shot the sunset, I found the bridge was basked in the twilight of the dusk and the artificial lighting from the lamp posts. Couples with bridge's own reflection in the river, I quickly pulled out the camera to record the moment!